Notebook, Round 4: Bridgestone Invitational

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Weather: Partly cloudy and warmer temperatures than most of the week reaching a high of 86. Winds: SW 10-15 mph.

Hunter Mahan (71-67-66-64=268, -12) 1st

• Hunter Mahan shot a bogey-free final-round 64 to win the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational by two strokes after trailing by three entering the final round for his third career PGA TOUR victory. The three-stroke comeback victory equals the largest come-from-behind win in the tournament's 12-year history (Tiger Woods, 2009). All three of Mahan's PGA TOUR wins have occurred when trailing after three rounds.

• Mahan collects 550 FedExCup points with his victory to move in to the top 10 in the standings with just two weeks remaining for players to earn their place in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

• Mahan began the back nine of Saturday's third round at 2-under for the tournament. A back-nine 31 on Saturday, combined with a front-nine 30 for Sunday's final round moved the Oklahoma State University graduate up the leaderboard.

• The 64 by Mahan is the lowest final-round score by a winner in tournament history.

• Mahan has shown the ability to shoot low scores in his PGA TOUR career. Mahan has now shot 64 or better 18 times in his career, including shooting 62 six times.

• With the win, Mahan becomes just the third American to win the Bridgestone Invitational, joining Tiger Woods (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009) and Stewart Cink (2004), and first to claim a World Golf Championships event in 2010. Mahan is 28 years, two months and 22 days old.

• Mahan is also the third player in his 20s to win a World Golf Championships event, joining Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy.

Youngest winners of World Golf Championships Events:

• Mahan joins Dustin Johnson, Anthony Kim and Sean O'Hair as the only Americans in their 20s with three or more PGA TOUR victories. Colombia's Camilo Villegas is the only other player in his 20s who also has three victories on the PGA TOUR.

• Mahan adds the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational victory to his win earlier this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open for his first multi-win year on the PGA TOUR. Mahan joins Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Justin Rose and Jim Furyk as the players who have won two events in 2010.

Ryan Palmer (70-68-63-69=270, -10) 2

• This is Ryan Palmer's second start at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational; he last played the event in 2005, when he qualified via his win at the FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort (2004). Palmer shot 72-68-67-69 and finished T3. He was T7 heading into the final round, four shots behind the 54-hole leader.

• His only other World Golf Championships start came earlier this year at the CA Championship, where he finished T45.

• Palmer has struggled coming into this week, missing the cut in 10 out of the last 12 events he's played. He missed five cuts, finished T9 at the Valero Texas Open, then missed five additional cuts before finishing T24 at the RBC Canadian Open, his most recent PGA TOUR start.

• Palmer moves into the top 25 in the FedExCup standings. Palmer is trying to qualify for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola for the first time in his PGA TOUR career.

• With the second-place earnings of $840,000, Palmer has earned more than $2 million this year for his first $2 million season on the PGA TOUR.

Bo Van Pelt, (67-68-69-67=271, -9) -- T3

• Bo Van Pelt finished T3 for his sixth top-10 finishes in 2010, matching his 2005 season for the the most top-10s he has recorded in one year on TOUR. Van Pelt, who qualified for the tournament via his spot inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, finished T3 at the Memorial Tournament earlier this year here in Ohio. Van Pelt has earned more than $2 million this year for the first time in his nine-year PGA TOUR career.

• Van Pelt, who is projected to move to No. 12 in the FedExCup, is looking to reach THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola for the first time in his PGA TOUR career.

• This was Van Pelt's first time playing at the Bridgestone Invitational. His T3 finish makes him the eighth player to finish inside the top five in their inaugural Bridgestone Invitational. The best finish by a first-time participant (outside of 1999) at the Bridgestone Invitational is 2nd by Jonathan Kaye in 2003. Phillip Price (2000) and Fred Funk (2002) finished T2 in their first appearances.

• Van Pelt (67-68-69-67) and Ireland's Rory McIlroy (68-69-69-69, 5-under-par, T10) were the only players this week to shoot all four rounds in the 60s.

Retief Goosen (67-66-73-65=271, -9) -- T3

• Second-round leader Retief Goosen rebounded from a third-round 73 to shoot a final-round 65 and finish the tournament at T3. Goosen's is tied with Matt Kuchar, who finished T9 this week, for the most top-10 finishes in 2010 with eight:

• The most top-10 finishes Goosen has ever recorded in a single PGA TOUR season was nine, which he did in 2003 (including one win) and 2004 (including two wins).

• Ernie Els remains a fixture on top of the current FedExCup standings on the strength of victories at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Els, who is tied for third on the PGA TOUR with six top-10s on the year (one back of Kuchar and Goosen), has led the FedExCup standings for 20- consecutive weeks, the longest stretch any one player has held the top spot in the three-plus year history of the FedExCup. Tiger Woods previously held that distinction, leading the FedExCup for 16-consecutive weeks in 2007.

Tiger Woods (74-72-75-77=298, +18) T78

• Woods shot a final-round 77 to finish at 18-over par. His score of 18-over sets a new mark for his highest 72-hole score in relation to par. Woods had twice previously finished with a score of 10-over through 54 holes. His total of 298 is also his highest score through four rounds of his PGA TOUR career.

• Since turning pro, Woods' previous worst finish as a professional in an event in which he played four rounds was a T60 at the first event in which he played as a pro, the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open. Below is a list of his five worst finishes in events in which he made that cut.

• Woods failed to shoot par or better in any of the four rounds of this week's Bridgestone Invitational. This is the fourth time in Woods' career that he failed to record a round of par or better over the course of 72 holes.

• Woods shot scores higher than par on 25 holes this week at the Bridgestone Invitational, which is the most in any tournament of his PGA TOUR career (pro or amateur).

• In his PGA TOUR career as a professional, Woods has scored worse than par on 2,162 holes, meaning the 25 bogeys or worse he made this week represents 1.156 percent of that total.

• Since turning professional, Woods has now played in 218 72-hole PGA TOUR events in which he has played 72 holes (This excludes tournaments in which he has missed the cut or tournaments that have gone 90 holes). In the 218 events that Woods has made it through the weekend, the Bridgestone Invitational marks only the 30th time that he has failed to finish an event with a score of par or better.

72-hole events in which Tiger Woods has finished over-par since turning professional

• Playing in the Bridgestone Invitational for the 11th time, Woods' T78 finish marks the first time he has failed to finish inside the top 4.

• Woods' final-round score of 77 matches his highest final-round score on the PGA TOUR as a professional.

• Woods finished 30 shots behind Hunter Mahan, the largest gap between Woods and the winner in his career in tournaments without a cut or ones in which he made the cut.

Jeff Overton, (67-70-67-69=273, -7), T6

• Jeff Overton birdied the final two holes to finish T6 and inside the top 12 for the eighth time in his last 11 starts. During that stretch he has three runner-up finishes (Zurich Classic of New Orleans, HP Byron Nelson Championship, The Greenbrier Classic) and two third-place finishes (Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, AT&T National).

Miscellaneous Stats

• The only time Woods and Phil Mickelson have shot 77 or higher in the same round was at the 1998 British Open, 3rd round. Woods shot 77 and Mickelson shot 85. The only other tournament in which both players posted a round of 77 or higher was the 1995 British Open. Mickelson shot 77 in round three and Woods shot 78 in round four while playing as an amateur.

• Woods held his spot at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the 270th consecutive week and a record total weeks at No. 1 of 611 weeks. Mickelson, who had a chance to move to No. 1 in the world with a top-4 finish, shot 79 on Sunday and will hold the No. 2 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking for the 258th week of his career. In his career, Mickelson has held the No. 2 position for a total of 258 weeks, nearly twice as many as Nick Faldo who is next on the list with 130.

FedExCup

• With the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in the books, there are only two weeks remaining for players to qualify or improve their standings for the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

• Only SEVEN players ranked outside the top 30 entering the 2009 Playoffs made it to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

• The player who enters THE TOUR Championship has a great advantage on the rest of the field. The top five players entering THE TOUR Championship control their own destiny and win the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake Golf Club.

• By finishing the season ranked in the top 30 in the FedExCup and reaching THE TOUR Championship, players earn the following exemptions in 2011:

- Majors
- Masters
- U.S. Open
- Invitation and Special Events
- Bob Hope Classic
- WGC -- CA Championship
- Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Verizon Heritage
- THE PLAYERS Championship
- Crowne Plaza Invitational
- The Memorial
- ATT National

• Adam Scott recorded the first eagle on the 469-yard par-4 fourth hole in tournament history. Scott holed his second shot from the fairway from 166 yards away. Scott went on to finish T9 for his second top-10 finish of 2010. His only other top-10 finish this year is his victory at the Valero Texas Open.

Before Sunday's round, four players had reached the 16th green in two shots since 2003 --

Players who have hit No. 16 in two shots (since 2003)
Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, 2006, Round 2 - made birdie
Lee Westwood, 2007, Round 4 - made birdie
Y.E. Yang, 2009, Round 4 - made birdie
Camilo Villegas, 2009, Round 4 - made par

• During Sunday's round, five players reached the green in two - Retief Goosen, Ryo Ishikawa, Rory McIlroy, Lucas Glover and Boo Weekley all reached the green on the Par 5 667-yard 16th hole. They all two-putted for birdie.

Players who have made eagle on No. 16 (since 2003)
Charlie Hoffman, 2007, Round 2 (went for the green in 2, missed)
Soren Hansen, 2008, Round 2 (did not go for the green in 2)

• Seven of the top eight players on the leaderboard are from the United States. The only international player to finish in the top 8 was South Africa's Retief Goosen who finished T3.

• There are 24 players making their Bridgestone Invitational debut in 2010. Other than the event's inaugural year in 1999, no player has ever won the Bridgestone Invitational in his first appearance. Here is a look at how this year's first timers finished:

Scoring Averages at the par-70 Firestone Country Club:

Bogey-free rounds:

Round 1 -- Kenny Perry (66), Adam Scott (66), Chad Campbell (67), Sean O'Hair (67), Paul Casey (68)
Round 2 -- None
Round 3 -- Sean O'Hair (64) and Ryan Palmer (63)
Round 4 -- Hunter Mahan (64) and Louis Oosthuizen (65)